Gao Qifeng, one of the "Three Masters of Lingnan School" and the younger brother
of Gao Jianfu, went to Tokyo with his brother and studied painting under Tanaka Raisho.
After he returned to China, he started setting up his painting studio and advocated
reforms of treditional Chinese painting. Gao's work is drastically different from the
traditional Chinese painting methods of the horse because of the unique Japanese style
involved. Gao depicted a scene of falling leaves and a gloomy sunset in the woods,
which marked the influence of the Kyoto School. The bleak atmosphere not only represents
the feeling of misery and beauty typically found in Japanese paintings, but also echoes
a widely-quoted line in the Yuan dynasty: "In wintry west wind stood a bony horse in the
ancient path". In solid Western life sketching technique, he skillfully implemented lights
and shades, and juxtaposed a heavily painted background against the white body of the
horse to highlight the muscularity of the body in a relaxed pose.